C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 103

Galefire Review

    I fully admit to being a huge fan of Kenny Soward’s GnomeSaga series. It was fun, quirky, oddball fantasy which didn’t take itself too seriously. As such, I was kind of off-put by the revelation his next series was not going to be in the fantasy genre but the somewhat over-saturated urban fantasy market. I say this as an urban fantasy author. Furthermore, it would be a dark and serious tale of a heroin-addicted slave to a gang of supernaturals living in Cincinnati.
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Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening, Escalation, Confrontation review

    I'm a long-time fan of the Gundam series even if I believe it's been about ten years and five series too many since they had anything new to say. Then again, that's the nature of all fandom for continuously operating decades-old franchises. For those unfamiliar with it, Gundam is a mecha anime based around the titular brand of mecha which is a portmanteau of the words "Gun" and "Freedom."

    The rough premise of (almost) every Gundam is that there's a central...

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Jedi Knight storyline review

 Warning: Some spoilers for the Jedi Knight storyline.

    I’m way behind on my reviews for this but I figured I might as well finish them up so I can get around to reviewing Knights of a Fallen Empire. Better late than never, am I right? Ironically, I managed to complete the Sith storylines without ever stopping to do the Republic ones and that was probably a mistake on my part as they’ve proven to be far more interesting than I gave them credit for. I suppose after thirt...

Star Wars: Before the Awakening review

    I've decided to, cautiously, begin reading novels from the New Star Wars Expanded universe. One of the obvious places to begin is the light-novel lead-ups to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This is a short novel (240 pages) containing three short-stories about the protagonists of the film. It chronicles the adventures of Finn, Poe Dameron, and Rey before Kylo Ren changes their lives forever. Is it any good?

    It's okay.

    Before the Awakening i...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (spoiler) review

Warning: This will contain spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Read the non-spoiler review of the movie here.

    Okay, everyone who has seen the movie should read this. Everyone who hasn't, well, you've been warned.

    So, what did I think of the movie?

    Well, I think it was extremely good and I admire a lot of the bold choices it made. Unfortunately, I think it wasn't quite as bold as it could have been. Much of the movie is a rehash of A...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (non-spoiler) review

The spoiler review for the movie is available here.

    Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a work just about every geek has given his or her opinion on since it's release. For the most part it's been a general "Star Wars is back!" sentiment or, less charitably, "Star Wars: The Apology for the Prequels." I'm actually going to agree with a lot of that and state this is a work by a fan who very much wanted to go back to the Original Trilogy's values.

    I'm not on the a...

The Games of Supervillainy is now available for purchase!

THE GAMES OF SUPERVILLAINY is now available for purchase from Amazon.com on Kindle!

Get ready for the action-packed follow up to The Rules of Supervillainy. This time with zombies, zombified heroes and villains, cults, magic, superscience, a dragon, a Greek demigod, and so much more!

Gary and Cloak have returned from the supervillain prison on the moon only to discover the city he plans to conquer and rule with an iron fist has been overrun with the living dead. Once again taking up the mantle...

The Greater Good review

    The Greater Good is the latest volume of the Ciaphas Cain series. Set in the Warhammer 40K universe, it follows the adventures of the titular Commissar. Ostensibly a political officer, Ciaphas Cain is a somewhat cowardly figure who continually finds himself in horrifically dangerous situations against the Imperium's worst enemies.

    Managing to survive through a combination of luck and a keenly-honed sense of self-preservation, Cain finds himself with a most...

The Wheel of Time: The Fires of Heaven review

    The Wheel of Time series is one which is a hefty time investment even for those who devour books quickly. Nevertheless, it is a collection of books which contain a fascinating array of characters both silly and serious. If I were to make a comparison, it's less a single series of books than several main books and a dozen spin-off series or trilogies which have been pushed together. This doesn't make the books bad, quite the opposite, but it does mean that they tend to meand...

Wolfenstein: The New Order review

    I've actually been kind of troubled by this game because I am caught in a weird place regarding it. I love Wolfenstein, don't get me wrong. I played Wolfenstein 3d when it first came out and have roughly kept up with the series ever since. Unfortunately, I've been avoiding this one for the same reasons I avoided The Man in the High Castle. It's exactly my kind of science-fiction, the production values look awesome, and I love the people behind it.

    I just...